


(Almost) Rapunzel

by lavvyan



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fairy Tales, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-04-11
Updated: 2009-04-11
Packaged: 2017-10-02 07:35:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavvyan/pseuds/lavvyan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John tries to score himself a princess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Almost) Rapunzel

There lived once a married couple, who in return for some salad traded away their only child, a girl whom they had named Rapunzel, to an evil sorceress. As sadly we all know, some people are just strange like that.

The girl now grew up in the care of the sorceress to be first a girl, and then a young woman of the most delicate beauty you can imagine, so that her mere sight was enough to make men weep and women hide in shame. Her eyes were of an amazing blue, and her hair had the colour of sun-spun gold. The sorceress had locked her up in a tower to hide her away from the world, the only way of entrance to climb up Rapunzel's long, long hair.

Word of the fair maiden reached many a young man, knights and princes from as far as the country up in the highest mountains and the one by the rolling sea. They came to the tower and one after another were struck down by the evil sorceress, for she was a jealous mistress.

Then, one day, a prince who had heard the stories rode up on his fiery steed to the very foot of the forbidding tower, and because he had listened to the stories very carefully, he yelled:

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

There was a loud crash from within the tower, and then a man stuck his head out the window.

"Ex_cuse_ me?"

His eyes _were_ of an amazing blue, but his hair was short and there wasn't all that much of it. And while he was attractive in his own quirky way, nobody would ever have thought to say that his beauty might bring anyone to tears.

For a moment, they just stared at each other. Then the prince asked, "Aren't you supposed to be a beautiful princess?"

"I'm a _scholar,_ you moron. Besides, aren't you supposed to be a rakish prince?" the man shot back.

"Hey! I'm plenty rakish!"

The scholar looked down at the fiery steed that was more of a mule, and at the admittedly rakish prince with his black hair and hazel eyes, whose clothes were cheap and looked like they had seen better days, and cocked his head to the side.

"But I might be a poor, homeless, soldier," the prince admitted reluctantly. Then his face brightened. "I could save you, though. Now that I'm here."

"Do I look like I need saving?" the scholar asked with exasperation, and the soldier had to admit that no, he didn't. If anything, he looked like he thought the soldier was pretty stupid.

"But how do you leave the tower?"

"Through the _door._ Which is _on the other side._ Facing towards Rapunzel's tower, actually. But she eloped with her prince a few years ago."

And now the soldier was _feeling_ pretty stupid.

"Well, sorry for disturbing you then. So long, uh…"

"Rodney."

"So long, Rodney."

And this might have been the end of this little tale, only that darkness was already falling, and so the scholar rolled his eyes and muttered about the dangers of potholes at night, and offered the soldier a place to stay. And the next day the soldier, whose name was, of course, John, repaid him by tidying up the mess that was the scholar's garden. It took him the better part of the day, and Rodney had cooked far too much anyway, and John had found a book he liked, and so he stayed another night. And another. Then winter rolled around, and John was kind of in charge of the firewood, if only to make sure Rodney made it safely through the cold season, and Rodney was the one who turned their meagre provisions into something edible, if only to make sure he wasn't accidentally poisoned with lemon.

And maybe, just maybe, somewhere between the snow and the wind and the warming fire, they found a happily ever after.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] (Almost) Rapunzel](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6118051) by [lavvyan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavvyan/pseuds/lavvyan), [reena_jenkins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reena_jenkins/pseuds/reena_jenkins)




End file.
